"Good evening, Capitol! And welcome to your nightly recap of the Second Inter-District Inter-Disciplinary Events. I'm Harli Saleman."
"And I'm Dorian Muir. We've just passed the halfway point of the Events, and things are really starting to heat up."
"They really are! The pressure is truly on now for the competitors, as for each team, there are only six other teams between them and victory. And today's challenge did not help alleviate that pressure; it really pushed our competitors to their breaking points."
"That it did, if not physically then certainly mentally. It was lovely to watch our teams band together and support each other as they faced this difficult task."
"Oh, for sure. And as our teams bond together, rivalries between teams are becoming more intense as the divide between the Career and non-Career districts continues to grow, and the balance of power seems to be shifting back away from the Careers."
"Well, I might not go that far, but things definitely feel a bit more even than they did before today. We really got to learn more about some of our Careers, that's for sure. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's get into the recap."
"Yes, let's!"
The screen behind Harli and Dorian shifted to a tessellated view of the fourteen competitors, pacing back and forth in their rooms. Some attempted to open the door only to find it locked. Others were sitting on their beds, eating the breakfast that had been provided for them in their rooms. Still others were beginning to fiddle with a strange device that they'd found waiting for them on the floor. Whatever they were doing, the anxiety that each competitor was clearly feeling was palpable, even through the camera's lens.
"Today's challenges honored District Four and their district value of courage. Now for those of you who have never been to Four, or even for those of you who have, you might think that all that the people of Four do is sit next to the ocean and wait for fish, but that is not the case. Rather, many brave people set out on fishing boats into the vast ocean, sometimes for weeks on end, where one storm can mean the death of an entire crew."
"For this morning's competition, each of our competitors was challenged with showing courage in the face of their greatest fears. With the help of new, state-of-the-art virtual reality technology, each competitor was immersed in a virtual landscape, so that it could feel like they were really experiencing their fear rather than just watching something take place vaguely around them."
"The challenge was similar to the Simon Says challenge from Day Four of the Events, in that the longer you were able to face your fear for, the better you did. However, the last competitor standing did not win outright; instead, the winning team was the one whose average placement was the highest, with ties broken by the individual competitor who had the higher score. This might seem like an unusual method of calculating the winner of the challenge, but in this circumstance, it was actually the fairest option, as April Salinger was not allowed to compete."
~.~.~
As usual, when April woke up, she took a few moments to get her bearings before she got up and got dressed. It was hard for her to believe that she'd been away from home for nearly two weeks now; this was the longest she'd been away from her district ever, and the longest she'd been away from her home since she was in her treatment program. It was strange to think that such a long time had passed, and yet in some respect it felt like no time at all. But perhaps the strangest part of the experience of the Events was that April had made a friend. Or at least, she thought she had. The teams from Eleven and the Capitol had been spending quite a lot of time together, and April liked to think that she and Titania in particular were getting rather friendly.
She hoped Titania felt the same way.
Once she was ready, April got out of bed and slipped on a pair of shoes, then brushed out her hair and teeth before going into the common room. As usual, she found a plate waiting for her on the counter, her portions very carefully measured out. However, as was not usual, next to the plate was a note.
Dear April,
At the request of President Emerald, you will not be participating in today's challenge, as it is believed to be too detrimental to your mental health. While you will be given an official placement in the challenge of fourteenth out of fourteen, we will be determining the winner of the challenge by taking taking the average of each team's competitors' individual placements. As such, the fact that you are not participating should not affect your team's placement overall, and if it does significantly, we will be willing to reconsider your placement and recalculate the results.
Sincerely,
The Gamemaking Team
April read the note once, twice, then three times. She couldn't help but wonder what the challenge could possibly be that participating would be detrimental to her mental health. There was a part of her that couldn't help but feel upset that her mental health was so bad, was of such concern that she couldn't do her part to help her teammate.
And yet, for the first time, April felt a little tiny glimmer of warmth at the thought that someone was truly looking out for her.
~.~.~
"The placement of each tribute in the challenge was determined by a combination of factors, including how long they lasted in the simulation, how steady their breathing and their heart rate was, and how they reacted in the moment. We do not have an exact rubric, but the results were evaluated by the Events Fairness Council, so we have every reason to believe that, despite the subjective nature of the results, they are as accurate and fair as they could possibly be."
Just as it did every night, the highlight reel of the challenge began to play, with Harli and Dorian's voices speaking over it. Harli began, "The last-place team, with an average placement of 11.5, was the team from Twelve. Mina, who placed twelfth out of fourteen, was forced to face her fear of hurting someone she loved, while Cam, who placed eleventh, was forced to face her fear of someone betraying her trust. In a particularly intense twist of the Gamemakers, Mina was forced to face the reality that she'd hurt a simulated Cam, and Cam was 'betrayed' by a simulated Mina. Fortunately, both girls were able to reconcile at the end of the challenge, in a moment that could best be described as sad but wholesome."
"Placing above the Twelves, with an average placement of 8.5, was the team from Two. Mack did rather well in the challenge, placing fourth overall, as he faced his fear of hitting the ground after falling. Noel, on the other hand, did shockingly badly; they placed thirteenth, lowest of every competitor who actually competed in the challenge, as they were unable to face their fear of dying in the Games. Above the twelves, in turn, was the team from Eleven, who were significantly (though not so significantly) affected by the fact that April did not participate, automatically assigning her fourteenth. Their placement can be attributed to the fact that Xayah placed second, successfully facing her fear of cars and giving their team an average placement of 8.
"Moving up the leaderboard, we come to the team from Six, with an average placement of 7.5. Ella placed sixth in the challenge, doing fairly well at facing her fear of being put under another Reaping statute. Sigmund, who was forced to face his fear of abandonment, placed ninth. Just above them are the pair from the Capitol, who came in third place with an average placement of 6.5. Titania, who was forced to face her fear of breaking a bone, placed fifth; Mettius, who faced eir fear of drowning, placed eighth."
"This leaves us with two teams and four competitors left. Both competitors from Nine did fairly well for themselves; Berk placed seventh overall as he faced his fear of clowns, while Nova placed third overall as she faced her fear of claustrophobia. As for the kids from One? Well, Pax Imperioli did exceptionally, the best of all the competitors, at facing her fear of cars. However, Pax Altomare came in tenth place, as he was completely unable to face his fear of – and we are not kidding here – goats, sending their team's average tumbling to 5.5. If Pax had come just one place higher, the team from Two would have won the challenge; instead, the victory went to the team from Nine, who received the Medallion of Courage."
"Now, the team from Nine chose to send the team from Two into the elimination challenge, selecting the team from the Capitol as a backup. Two then went up against the team from One, who were sent in based on popularity scores. For the elimination challenge, the competitors were tasked with bungee jumping off of a diving board into a large pool and grabbing as many of the floating rings as they could. Whichever of the teams got the most rings won the right to stay in the Events. None of the Careers had any trouble with the challenge, even Mack, despite his fear of hitting the ground. However, Pax Altomare got distracted by yet another butterfly on two of his runs, causing him to be unprepared to grab the rings when he hit the water and giving the victory to the team from Two."
"You have to think that, at this point, the Gamemakers are putting the butterflies in the Arena intentionally," chuckled Dorian.
"Perhaps," Harli replied, "though they wouldn't say that; it would be a form of sabotage, and it would not fly with the Events Fairness Council. I think they probably just unleashed a few butterflies into the Arena to make it seem nicer, and they just happen to appear at all the wrong times."
"Poor Pax Altomare. And honestly? Also poor Pax Imperioli."
"As always, we'll end our recap by going over our medallion tracker." The camera shot switched to just Harli, and a graphic appeared on the screen which displayed the image of a medallion on the left side of a table and the district that held it on the right.
"The pair from the Capitol is still in the lead with three medallions: yesterday's Medallion of Commitment, as well as their medallions of Leadership and Perseverance. The pairs from Nine and Six have two medallions each; Nine has the Medallion of Friendship and their newly acquired Medallion of Courage, while Six has the Medallion of Teamwork and the Medallion of Trust. Finally, Two has the Medallion of Discipline, and Twelve has the Medallion of Heart."
The screen shifted back to the image of Harli and Dorian. "Well, that was quite a bold decision on the part of the team from Nine. What is your take on their selection for the elimination challenge, Dorian? I think it was a risky move, given that citizens of Two are often seen as brave."
"Well, it's easy enough for us to say that their decision was a dicey one, especially given that we know how strongly Noel holds grudges. But from their perspective, I think their logic was sound. Two is one of the biggest physical threats left, with the other being the pair from the Capitol. Especially with Two's strength challenge still to go, I can fully understand Nine's logic."
"That is very true; Nine has spent more time with Twelve than any other team, so they might not know what we know about the pair from Two."
"And we did get a peek into Nova and Berk's logic. The pair from Nine figured that, if the team from Two didn't win in the morning, they'd have a hard time winning in the afternoon. And unfortunately, that logic betrayed them."
"To be fair, though, the pair from Twelve is also still in the game. It's just a matter of against whom Noel holds a stronger grudge."
"I'm inclined to still say the pair from Twelve," Dorian admitted. "Berk and Nova are literal children; Mina would have trained for a time in the Academy with Noel. There is no question that the Twos know that Mina is capable of far more than the Nines are combined; she's the much bigger threat, and so she'l go first."
"That's a good way of looking at it." Harli turned to look more directly at the camera. "After the break, we'll continue our analysis of today's events, and give you a sneak peek of tomorrow's challenge. We'll be right back."
Pax Imperioli:
What a lovely take on commitment! Someone who works so hard despite the most difficult of circumstances. In another draft of this story I definitely would have considered giving Ms. Imperioli a more villainous route and more of an arc, but I like what I was able to do with her regardless! Thank you so much to paperairline for Pax Imperioli!
Pax di Fiore Altomare:
Pax was truly my emotional support himbo in this story. I love all my IDIDE2 babies but writing Altomare just gave me such joy. He truly is such a dumbass but the best dumbass, and I loved every single second I got to throw a butterfly in his face. I know he's going to do great things in his life… someday, somehow, when he figures what he wants. Thank you to SinfonianLegend for Pax Altomare!
~.~.~
Another week, another chapter! I hope you guys liked this take on District Four! Fun fact: in one of my original drafts for the story this challenge was swapped with the D10 challenge so we could see more kids take on the angst, but I liked the idea of having more teams at play for the friendship challenge, so this got swapped to come a little later. A further fun fact about this is that if it had come in earlier there would have been two competitors facing their fear of goats. [insert Dr. Doofenschmirtz if I had a nickel meme here]
Anyways, I hope you guys liked the chapter! I've got two stockpiled so I'm feeling pretty good but I don't want to set the date for my double update til I'm a bit further along on the writing front. Not a ton to say but I would love to hear your thoughts. We're past the halfway point now so I'll see you next week with the next district! Any guesses?
-goldie031